1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling a plurality of devices such as home appliances by linkage, and particularly to an apparatus for controlling the plurality of devices to suit a life of a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case where a user uses a plurality of devices, all setting details of each function provided in the plurality of devices have to be set, requiring complicated operations.
So far, various control systems have been proposed in view of the problems involved in a plurality of settings such as this.
For example, an AV device system has been proposed (official publication of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-177919 and so on) where, in a plurality of AV devices connected via a communication bus, an AV device in which timer presetting and execution are carried out notifies the timer presetting details to the AV devices operating in linkage with it, and the timer presetting of the AV devices operating in linkage is carried out. When a user presets the timer of a certain AV device, the AV device system automatically transmits the same presetting details to other AV devices operating in linkage with the AV device.
Furthermore, network home appliances that execute a script describing the operation of the home appliances, in conjunction with an event generated in response to a change in the state of another home appliance, has also been proposed (official publication of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-198734 and so on). According to these network home appliances, related processes are automatically executed in conjunction with another device.
In addition, a home appliance control network system has also been proposed (official publication of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-86572 and so on) in which the network is provided with a controller, and the operating status of each home appliance that is subject to linked operation and controlled by the network controller is obtained and transmitted to each of the other home appliances. This home appliance control network carries out the linked operation of each home appliance and the efficient linked operation of the network as a whole.
However, although it is possible to carry out the same setting repeatedly for other devices by transmitting the presetting details to the plurality of devices in the aforementioned existing AV device system, setting different details in a plurality of devices having different functions cannot be carried out automatically.
Furthermore, the existing AV device system, network home appliance and home appliance control network system mentioned above stop at carrying out linked operations that have been set to correspond to various events. For example, according to the aforementioned existing network home appliances, when laundry is finished, a message stating that the laundry is finished is displayed on the television. However, this linked operation is fixed. In other words, it presumes that the resident has a habit of watching television, and such linked operation would no longer be of use in the case where that habit should be discontinued.